She liked the Smothers Brothers a lot as a kid. Another passion was Mike Nichols & Elaine May albums and their work. Additionally, there was a famous commercial for Skippy Dog Food, with her future husband Dooley in a dog suit, that she remembered vividly.[1]

Holzman had been performing in sketch comedy for years, "determined to never make a dime,"[1] but it was a process where she was writing a lot, performing everything. So her college friend, the editor Mitchel Ivers, recommended the degree, telling her about the amazing teachers (Sondheim, Prince, Bernstein) who were going to teach there, and him having the insight it would be a great fit for her. With a full scholarship, Holzman got a Master's Degree in a brand new program: Musical Theater from New York University. She said it changed her destiny, made her into a writer. Arthur Laurents really mentored her, with that kind of intensity, thinks what you're doing has some sort of worth. "He really focused me, the way you would focus a lens. I remember he said to me. He looked at me and said, 'You're a writer.'" A magical moment that she says changed her at 26 or 27, a crucial moment when she was feeling lost, losing her place.[1]

Her stage writing credits include "Serious Bizness"[4] While at NYU she wrote the musical Birds of Paradise (with composer David Evans), which was produced off-Broadway in 1987 and directed by Laurents.[5] It got scathing reviews.[1]

In 1988, Dooley got a job in Los Angeles on the TV series Coming of Age when their daughter was 2 years old. Holzman went, with her daughter in a stroller, to visit her brother, cinematographer Ernest Holzman on the set of thirtysomething.Richard Kramer, a writer on the set, talked with her (his brother produced her comedy group in New York) and suggested she should write for the show. Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, who never do this, bought a spec script from Holzman, went on to become a staff writer on thirtysomething in 1989.[1] Holzman wrote 9 episodes during the last two seasons of the show.[4]

Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz went on to executive produce My So-Called Life. Holzman went from a story editor, or executive story editor, to a creator and writer of the show. Zwick and Herskovitz suggested the show be about a teenage girl. Holzman said it would never have occurred to her to have that idea.[1]

Holzman has collaborated on various short films with her daughter, Savannah. Holzman and her daughter penned a TV pilot based on the Sasha Paley novel Huge, which ABC Familygreenlit in January 2010 with a direct-to-series order.[6][7]Huge premiered in late June 2010. The show team included Holzman, Dooley, her daughter, and her brother, who was the cinematographer.[1] The series was cancelled on October 4, 2010 due to low ratings compared with the network's other summer hits.[8]

In 2014, Showtime gave a pilot order to Roadies, a behind-the-scenes comedy about people working with a touring rock band that will be created by Cameron Crowe, J.J. Abrams (executive producing), and Holzman.[9] The TV show will star Luke Wilson, Imogen Poots, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Peter Cambor, and Rafe Spall[10] -- in addition to Christina Hendricks.[11]

Holzman has had a number of acting spots, primarily cameo roles on her own TV shows and a role as a therapist on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She also had a small role in the film Jerry Maguire. She wrote and performed several personal essays at the Un-Cabaret spoken word shows in Los Angeles and is featured on their CD Play the Word (Vol. 1).

Holzman has been married to character actorPaul Dooley, who she met at an improv acting class in New York,[12] since November 18, 1984.[13] A group of actors friends in the commercial world were creating a Mary Hartman-esque soap opera for about two years. Holzman and Dooley were part of the group and met there. Holzman played columnist Bianca Littlebaum, the only Jew in a small town in Ohio. Dooley was Edgar Buchanan Wilson, the not-richest man in town, named after 1940s actor Edgar Buchanan (Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction). They were both living with other people at the time, but got to know each other slowly and worked it out.[1]

On the 26 year age difference between her and Dooley, Holzman said it is something she doesn't talk about but it is interesting to her is how close they can be when they are so different (raised in different universes, generations, religion). "It's a big part of our lives but in a way it's meaningless."[1]